An article is circulating today that highlights some essential information literacy concepts. A group of journalists and scientists got together to do a study that purposefully created some bad information regarding the use of chocolate as a weight loss aid, and then succeeded in getting that bogus information published. As students and faculty, we are serious information consumers. We are taking in an increased amount of information, and consequently need to be able to assess and dismiss bad information. The article that’s linked here highlights some of the flaws in ways that our information can be created and ultimately produced. As information consumers, we must be aware that not all of our conventionally scholarly resources, like peer reviewed journals, are 100% credible every time. It is important that we remain critical of the information we find, specifically in how it was created.
The articles outlines the process of how bad information can be created, and what kinds of steps people can take to sidestep traditional peer review practices. Read the article, and then have some chocolate to balance out the feelings of sadness. Science shows that chocolate makes you feel better, right?
http://io9.com/i-fooled-millions-into-thinking-chocolate-helps-weight-1707251800